Yahoo Inc Chairman Roy Bostock and three other directors will step down as the struggling company ploughs ahead with an internal overhaul, including discussions on dealing with its stakes in China's Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. The corporation - once a Web powerhouse but now agonizing over a range of options to revive flagging growth - on Tuesday said it appointed former Rovi Corp CEO and International Business Machines Corp veteran Alfred Amoroso and ex-eBay COO Maynard Webb as independent directors. Yahoo's board has come under fire from investors impatient with the company's persistent inability to effect a turnaround, and frustrated with the apparent indecisiveness of stakeholders over ...
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has vowed to fight an "anti-business culture" in Britain, warning that a row overexecutive pay and bonuses threatens the country's fragile economic recovery. "Let me say something about the row over bonuses and pay," Osborne said in a speech to the Federation of Small Businesses. "Of course rewards for failure are unacceptable -- and those who believe in the free market are the first to say so. But a strong, free market economy must be built on rewards for success." The Labour Party has heaped pressure on the ruling coalition to curb excessive pay for top executives, using a House of Commons debate to demand the return ...
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Tuesday he is resolved to settle a longstanding territorial dispute with Russia at an annual rally calling for the return of all four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido in northern Japan, the Kyodo news agency reported. "We'll continue to make steady and determined efforts to move ahead with negotiations," Noda said, stressing the need to sign a peace treaty with Russia. The four islands - which Russia calls the Southern Kurils and Japan calls the Northern Territories - has been the subject of a territorial dispute between the two nations since the end of World War ...
Amanda Knox's Italian lawyer has filed an appeal of her slander conviction in Italy, a Knox family spokesman inSeattle said Monday. In October, an Italian appeals court overturned the young Seattle woman's murder conviction in the 2007 death of her British roommate in Perugia. But the same court upheld Knox's conviction for slander — for falsely accusing bar owner Diya "Patrick" Lumumba of involvement in the slaying. Lumumba was freed after two weeks in prison for lack of evidence. Knox later said she was "manipulated" during her lengthy police interrogation. An appeal of the slander conviction was filed Monday, Knox family spokesman Dave Marriott confirmed. He doesn't know when the Italian ...
The Dutch railway will remain 'vulnerable' during wintry weather but Dutch Rail (NS) and track operator ProRail did not help matters during the current cold snap by the late introduction of schedule adjustments to cope with the conditions, transport minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen told parliament in a briefing on Tuesday. The NS and ProRail assumed on Thursday of last week that there would be three to five centimetres of snow. When the forecast was increased on Friday morning to between 10 and 15 centimetres, it was too late to change the timetables automatically, Schultz van Haegen told parliament. Drivers and conductors ...
Greece can leave the eurozone without damaging monetary union, European digital affairs commissioner Neelie Kroes says in an interview with the Volkskrant on Tuesday. Kroes, a member of the Dutch ruling right-wing Liberal party VVD, is not a supporter of Greece exchanging the euro for the drachma, but says: 'It is absolutely not a case of man overboard if someone leaves the eurozone.' The commissioner is very critical of the new Greek government and says they are not fulfilling their promises. 'Too few spending cuts, too little restructuring,' she says. She says the Greeks should follow the example of Italy where the new ...
Mitt Romney hopes his presidential campaign hasn't ignored Rick Santorum's aggressive attacks for too long, as caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota on Tuesday could reshuffle the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Santorum largely bypassed Florida and Nevada to blanket the two caucus states with criticism of Romney and lay the groundwork among conservatives who have great sway in the process. RivalNewt Gingrich praised Santorum's strategy as shrewd even as he signaled he had no interest in exiting the four-way race, which also includes Ron Paul. "I think that Santorum's going to have a pretty good day," Gingrich told reporters on the eve of the caucuses. "He targeted differently than I ...
Glencore and Xstrata agreed an all-share merger worth $90 billion (56 billion pounds) on Tuesday in the industry's largest ever deal, creating a commodities powerhouse spanning mining, agriculture and trading. Glencore, the world's largest diversified commodities tradinghouse, will issue 2.8 new shares for each Xstrata share in a deal they said was a "merger of equals." The ratio is a 15.2 percent premium to Xstrata shareholders compared with its share price last Wednesday before word leaked out about the merger talks, a joint statement said. "A merger between Glencore and Xstrata offers a unique opportunity to create a new business model in our industry to respond to ...
US White House hopeful Mitt Romney aims for another big caucus win in Colorado on Tuesday, as his well-oiled campaign machine works to cement his position as the Republican front runner in the US presidential race. Polls suggest he should triumph easily in the western US state -- where he scored 60 percent in 2008 -- although there is a tighter race in Minnesota, where last-placed Rick Santorum is hoping to snatch a win. Romney's main rival, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, is battling to stay in the race after two heavy losses in a row to the former Massachusetts governor, who ...
As President Christian Wulff remains mired in allegations of impropriety, anti-corruption group Transparency International (TI) has called for politicians to use the case as a chance to open up German politics. “We are very concerned that people seem to be starting to think that all politicians behave like Wulff, and that would be fatal,” Christian Humborg, TI Germany’s managing director told The Local. “I think the Wulff affair is a wonderful opportunity for German politicians to react to the cynical attitude that this is normal, and improve things,” he said. He said the fact that the authorities were investigating whether Wulff and his ...
Forcing someone into marriage against their will could soon carry a punishment of up to two years imprisonment, according to an inquiry tasked with formulating a law criminalizing the practice under Swedish law. The inquiry, which will be completed later in the spring, also calls a halt to the existing possibility of special dispensation to allow minors to marry. “My view has always been that we need a law against forced marriage... [more]
Germany’s foreign minister assured Americans Friday that Europe left socialism behind two decades ago, despite statements to the contrary by Republicans on the US presidential campaign trail. With Republican White House hopefuls telling voters they will prevent America from sinking into a European-type malaise, Guido Westerwelle sought to dispel the notion of a region collapsing on the back of social welfare. “When I look at... [more]
A woman kidnapped at knifepoint at age 14 and held captive for nine months is getting married. A spokesman for 24-year-old Elizabeth Smart says she got engaged last weekend and will likely marry in the summer. No details about the groom-to-be were disclosed. The spokesman says Smart plans to keep her personal life private. Smart’s father, Ed Smart, tells The Associated Press his future son-in-law is a “fine young man.”... [more]
Russian billionaire presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov, the owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team and the ONEXIM Group investment fund, promised on Saturday to sell his business if he wins March elections. “If I become president, I will sell all of my assets to spend most of the money on charity,” Prokhorov said in an interview with the Dozhd TV channel. In December, Prokhorov, 46, also promised to marry if he won the polls. According... [more]
German drugstore giant Schlecker is declaring insolvency in a desperate attempt to save stores and keep the company afloat, the company confirmed on Friday afternoon. Schlecker managers said an insolvency petition would be delivered “shortly” to a court in Baden-Württemberg, where the company is based. A planned financing package is said to have fallen through, forcing the company’s hand. The move is not expected to have an immediate... [more]
Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague told Argentina to stop trying to intimidate the inhabitants of the Falklands, amid a war of words 30 years after the disputed islands sparked a real war. “If it (Argentina) is genuinely interested in progress it should stop these attempts to intimidate a civilian population,” Hague said in comments carried by The Times on Saturday. Buenos Aires “should agree to discuss how,... [more]
Caving to a massive campaign by Internet services and their millions of users, Congress indefinitely postponed legislation Friday to stop online piracy of movies and music costing U.S. companies billions of dollars every year. Critics said the bills would result in censorship and stifle Internet innovation. The demise, at least for the time being, of the anti-piracy bills was a clear victory for Silicon Valley over Hollywood, which has campaigned... [more]
The shadowy online hackers group Anonymous briefly hijacked the French presidential website on Friday in apparent retaliation for the US shutdown of file-sharing site Megaupload. The slogan “We Are Legion,” the group’s online rallying cry, was inserted into the navigation bar of the official Elysee site’s (www.elysee.fr). Before the end of the day, the site had been restored to normal. The group’s action appeared... [more]
Glamour girls Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic have advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open on Saturday while Ekaterina Makarova grabbed another upset, this time at the expense of fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva, the No.7 seed. And earlier, second-seed Czech Petra Kvitova advanced after being handed an early finish thanks to an injury to Russian 27th seed Maria Kirilenko, while unseeded Italian Sara Errani is also through to the... [more]
Newt Gingrich surged in the Republican White House race ahead of Saturday’s key South Carolina vote after lambasting the US media for digging into his past marital infidelity. The former House speaker slammed the media on Thursday after the airing of an interview with an ex-wife and sparred with top rival Mitt Romney as the four remaining candidates battled for the hearts of southern conservatives. A Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey... [more]
